Supporting stand



May 17, 1932. F. sTEvENsoN l SUPPORTING STAND Filed Dec. 26, 1930 ...5,3. a s l V w. m .,V

gva/vento@ Z :reZ/Sevezzsom amm Patented May 17, 1932 UNITED f STATES PATENT OFFICE FREDVSTEVENSON, OF NORTH WALES, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN :MODEL FORM CO., INC., F NEW YORK, N. Y.

SUPPORTING STAND Application led December 26, 1930. Serial No. 504,888.

My invention relates to .adjustable supporting stands, and more particularly to an automaticA stand :tor supporting garment forms. It belongs to that class of stands in ,.5 which the supporting pedestal is formed Voi telescoping rods, internally provided with eX- Ypauding lockingA members controlled by a central spring-.pressed rod projecting out at the bottom of the pedestal, and operated by a foot pedal at the lbaseY of the stand. The tubular'm'embers of thedevice-are also provided at their lower ends with shock-absorbing means as a safeguard against hurtful jar .from an accidental telescoping of' the supporting tubes, and' at their upper end with .adash-pot:arrangement for insuring the easy Tand gradual `descent. of the form when the locking members are held released yby the 'controlling foot pedal.

One objectof -the invention is to provideaidevice of the above character in which the expanding :locking members -are reliably held against lateral play in the supporting pedestal, thereby greatly facilitating the easy, prompt, and .reliable operation of the device.

A leading'feature `of the invention'consists "of :aslotted head carried by the upper end of the lower Vtelescopi-ng section, and provided in one side with a recess havingits inner wall inclined, in combination with a wedge member slidable within the recess and coacting with fthe inclined inner wall thereof; said head Vhaving its slo't inits lower portion and 'disposed' in ^a vertical plane at right .angles to thelplane of said inclined recess wall; said wedge being supported on the upper end of an'operating rod which passes freely through Vsaid slot, and is provided in the slot with an offset bend which prevents the rod from rotation :in Vthe slot, and thereby causes the rod `to hold,.against rota-tion, the locking wedge which itcarries; whereby the working face of said wedge is alwaysheld in parallelism with the inclined innerwall of said recess in the slotted head.

The inventionconsists in certain novel features :of construction Vand arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed, Areference Vbeing had to the accompanying drawings in which ,-Fig. 1 is a vertical section of my improved stand.

.F ig. 2 isa sectional view, on an enlarged scale, of the locking arrangement; and,.Fig.` l3 is a side elevation, also on an enlarged scale, of the slotted head, the view being takenat right angles to `the sectional view of `vsaid head, las it appears in Fig.2. .v v

Referring further to the -drawings;-The numeral l indicates the-base of the device; 2, the lower telescoping section .suitably mounted o n this base; and V3, theupper telescoping section adapted to move up and down on -the lower section. Surrounding .the lower .end of the tube 2 is a compression spring 4, which 'i serves as a buii'er for theouter tube 3 when in its lowermost position. It will lbe noticed that the lower end of v.the `tube f3 is slightly iared to cause `it Lto more tirmlyzengagesaid spring.

Mounted on the upper Aend Yof the inner tube 2 is the slotted head 5 formed preferably ot cast iron. The slot aof this head `is at its lower endand -is ldisposed kat right angles tothe recess 5b which is in the sideof Q15 the block between itsl ends. .The `rear tace 56m `of this recess is slightly inclined, as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

A tapered dog or wedge 6 is held in the recess 56, 4being mounted on the `upperl end go of the operating rod 7 which is supported .on the foot pedal 8. The inner tace .aofthis wedge -is suitably inclined -to meet inffiat en-v gagement with the inclined face 56m Aoli-the slot 56, so that as this wedge is moved-downwardly with its inner 'tace in engagement with the inner face of the recess 5b, the outer or back face 650i the wedge will be brought into Vbinding engagement with'the inner wall of the upper tube 3, and will thus lock said .tube against further movement on the .lower tube 2, since the locking head 5 is -rigidly held on said lower tube, being rolled onto the same at ythe lower -end of the head which is provided with the `annular groove 9 for assisting irl-locking the head and tube-together.

The tubef2 `is 'provided at its lower end Awith a rigid plug 10 which has a `central bore through which the operating rod 7 freely passes; and on the lowerend 'of this operat- 400 ing rod 7 is mounted a compression spring 11 which rests on the foot pedal 8, and extends up into engagement with the plug 12, and assists gravity in imparting to the rod and the wedge 6 mounted thereon a constant tendency to move downwardly, and thereby automatically lock the slotted head 5 in engagement with the outer tube 3, whenever said parts are left free to operate normally and without outside interference.

The operating rod 7 is provided with an offset 7 a which lies in the slot 5a of the head and prevents the rod from turning in said slot. It also prevents the wedge 6, mounted on the upper end of said rod, from'playing laterally in the recess 5b, and holds the inner flat face 6a of said wedge in parallelism with the inner flat wall 5ba? of the siderecess 5?), thus causing said faces to always promptly meet in flat l,engagement with each other when they are brought together.

The upperend of the slottedA head 5 is provided with acupped suction washer 12, ordinarily made of leather, vand held in place Vby a brass cup 13 and a. screw 14.

The upper end of the outer tube 3 is closed "by a plug 15, and underneath this plug is providedwith an air vent 16.

' s v"The plug 15 carries a post 17 for receiving the model form.

The operation of my device is very simple and is as follows ;--Pressure4 on the outer end of the foot pedal 8 will elevate the operating'rod` 7 against the compression of the spring 11,V and will, of course, also elevate the wedge 6 carried upon the upper end. of

vsaid rod. VThis willbring the outer face 6b of saidfwedge Yout of binding engagement with the uppertelescoping tube 3, leaving said tube free to be moved upwardly onthe inner tuber and the slotted head carried on the upper end thereof. When this tubev 3 is moved upwardly sufliciently to give the form supported thereon the desired elevation, the foot pedal 8 is released, and the spring 11 op- Y v'erating through the rod 7 coacts with gravity to promptly move the wedge 6 downwardly and thereby lock the tube 3 in the position which it occupies at that time. If it be desired to lower'the form on the tube 3 farther, the wedge ,6 is again elevated as before by v applying proper pressure upon the outer end Vof the foot pedal 8, and holdingV the pedal depressed till the outer tube carrying the form has moved downwardly as far as may be desired; then the pedal is released, and the tube is again locked at that point as already described. Y

The tube 3, when unlocked by a proper depression ofthe foot pedal will not drop down suddenly, because the dash-pot arrangement,

including the eXpending leather valve 12, mounted on the upper end of theslotted head 5, will confine V air in the upper end of the tube. 3, and will thereby only permit said tube to work, and the outer tube bearing thev form should drop down suddenly, the spring 4 at the lower end of the inner tube, would serve as a buffer to prevent serious ar or breakage of any of the parts. Y

- Having now describedmy invention,and showna practical embodiment of the same, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is 1. A device of the character described comprising telescoping pipe sections with a head carried on the upper end ofthe lower section, said head having in its lower portion a diametrical slot dividing said lower portion into two equal parts, said head having a recess in one side thereof, the inner wall of which recess is inclined and disposed at right angles to said diametrical slot; a wedge member slidable within said recessand coacting with saidinclined wall of the slotted head and the inner wall of the upper telescoping pipe'section to lock said head and pipe against movement relatively to each other; and an operating rod extendingthrough said Yslot into said krecess for supportingv -said linner wall of which recess isA inclined; a

wedge member having an inclined inner face arranged to coact with the inclined recess of said'head, said wedge being slidable within said recess andcoacting with said inclined Wall of the slotted head and the inner wall of l the upper telescoping pipe section to lock said head and pipe against movement relatively to each other; and an operating rod extending -through said slot into said recess `for sup; Vporting said wedge member therein, the portion of said'rod lying within said slot having'an oii'set bend therein disposed in a planeV parallel with the sides of the slot and at right angles to the inner working face of the wedgev member; said slotbeing of a width only .slightly greater than the diameter'of the rod', whereby the offset bend in the rod serves to hold the rod against rotation while holding the working face ofV said wedge member in parallelism with the inclinedV face of saidV recess with which' it cooperates.

` 3. A device of -the character described,

'comprising teles'coping'pipe sections with a slotted head carried by the .upper end of the lower telescoping section, and provided in one side with a recess havings its inner wall inclined outwardly from its upper end to its lower end; a wedge member slidable within the recess and having a fiat face suitably inclined to coact with the inclined inner wall thereof, said head having its slot in its middle and lower portion and disposed in a vertical plane at right angles to the plane of said inclined recess wall and said wedge wall; an operating rod for said wedge, said wedge being supported on the upper end of said rod which passes freely through said slot, and is provided in the slot with an offset bend which prevents the rod from rotation in the slot, and thereby causes the rod to hold against rotation and against lateral movement the locking wedge which it carries; whereby the working face of said wedge is always held in parallelism with the inclined wall of said recess on the slotted head, in position for instant face-to-face contact therewith upon downward movement of the wedge.

In testimony whereof I aiix my si ature.

FRED STEVENSON. 

